'He says that the petrol bomb came through the window and he couldn't put the flames out so he got out of the building and called the fire brigade and the police.

'The fire spread quickly and the building seems to be completely gutted.'

DI Gwyn Jones of Mold CID said that information regarding the incident was patchy but detectives were investigating at the scene.

'We got there quite quickly to try to get witness reports as we believe some people connected with the balti house were due to travel to Birmingham,' he said.

DI Gwilym Davies added: 'We want to stress this was not a racially motivated attack, especially in view of the current political situation.'

Owner Dilshad Ali and staff from the restaurant were unable to survey the damage for themselves as police scientists took pictures and samples for analysis in a bid to identify the mystery petrol bomber.

Fire crews battled for just over half an hour to get the blaze under control.

'Two fire crews from Deeside, one from Flint, one from Buckley and an emergency tender from Wrexham were quickly on the scene,' said fire service spokeswoman Bethan Davies.